10 Things on Tuesday

Tuesdays are, for some reason, a hard blogging day for me. I struggle with inspiration and ideas to write about. I've decided to borrow from another blogger, and do a 10 Things on Tuesday post. Some weeks it may be 10 completely random things. Other weeks it will be 10 related things.

Since I stayed up late last night watching back to back documentaries on A&E about the behind the scenes stories of the making of National Lampoon's Vacation and Caddyshack I thought I'd go with a list of my 10 all-time favorite movie comedies. These are the ones I will watch over and over and the jokes never get old.

In no particular order...

The Great Outdoors

John Candy and Dan Aykroyd are hilarious as two brothers-in-law who couldn't
be more different. Now they're on vacation with their families
and sharing a cabin in the north woods.

Animal House

This movie was kind of a rite of passage for my generation, I think, and
probably the beginning of a whole new generation of comedies that
pushed the limits of good taste. Still, you have to love
the parade scene at the end if nothing else.

Home for the Holidays

Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr. are grown kids who have left the
quirky insanity of their family behind. Now they're home for Thanksgiving.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

My favorite of all the Vacation movies. Clark Griswold is staying home for this
vacation, but he's invited ALL the family to come celebrate a good,
old-fashioned family Christmas. What could go wrong?

The Princess Bride

Fred Savage plays a boy who is home sick in bed. His grandfather, Peter Falk, reads
him a story called The Princess Bride, which comes to life for the viewer. It has
giants, sword fights, and so many great quotes.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Ferris is living every kid's dream of faking sick and then having the greatest day
in the history of ever....and not getting caught!

Blazing Saddles

This movie might be the single most politically incorrect movie ever made, but back
when we still had a sense of humor and could laugh at ourselves without being offended
over every little thing...this was FUNNY!

Monty Python and The Holy Grail

The guys from Monty Python are so off the wall and all their comic genius shows in this film.
It's got so many great moments and quotes I wouldn't even know where to start!

Napoleon Dynamite

This was a little sleeper film that debuted at, I think, the Sundance Film Festival. I'd never
heard of it until one of the kids wanted it and insisted we watch it. It is hard to describe,
but man, is it funny. You have to see it to understand.

Bruce Almighty

A lot of people got all offended by this movie and its portrayal of God. I decided to see it
anyway and found that while in some ways it wasn't what you'd call "theologically sound,"
it did impart some very specific and very profound truths in an amusing and entertaining way.

And because I absolutely love comedies due to laughing being my favorite thing to do and because I had such a hard time narrowing it down to 10....

Runners Up...

Groundhog Day

Bill Murray stars as a cynical reporter sent to cover the Groundhog Day festivities
in Punxsutawney, PA and finds himself in some kind of a ripple in time, in which
he keeps waking up to find it's Groundhog Day.Again. The same people. The same
events. Over and over. Time doesn't move on again until he adjusts his
attitude and does the day the right way.

Caddyshack

Way before Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore made golf fun, Caddyshack
was tearing up the green. A lot of it is that comedy that seems best
suited to junior high boys, but there are some great comedic moments.
It's meant to make you laugh, not think deep thoughts.
(Though after watching the show about the making of it last night, I
am seeing it and much of the cast in a new light. Apparently,
the parties were a nightly thing and the drugs and booze were plentiful.)

The Ringer

I am not really a fan of Johnny Knoxville so when the kids brought this movie
into the house I expected to hate it. The premise isn't exactly promising,
either. Johnny plays a nice guy caught in bad circumstances. He wants
to help out a guy who got hurt because of him, but he doesn't have the
money. Enter his sleazy uncle who convinces him to enter the Special
Olympics by portraying himself as mentally challenged. The idea is that he will
beat those "retards" easily and the uncle will place bets on him and win
them lots of money. I won't tell you how it all works out. I will say
that I expected to be highly offended by the handling of the subject,
but found that it was actually handled very well. Knoxville even uses some
real handicapped actors mixed in with the actors.
It's hysterically funny, but also heartwarming.

The Waterboy

This is my favorite Adam Sandler movie. It's about the little
guy winning in the end. And it is hillarious. So many funny moments.
Like when Momma (Kathy Bates) is cooking dinner for the coach (Henry Winkler).
Dinner happens to be a huge snake coiled up on a platter. Coach asks exactly
what part of the snake he might be eating. Momma tells him she doesn't rightly
know 'cause snakes don't really have parts, but if she had to guess...
she'd say it was a knee.

Forest Gump

20th Century history explained as you've never seen it before.
Tom Hanks at his comic best. Bubba Gump's soliloquy on shrimp.
Captain Dan. Jenny. The turbulent 1960s. Vietnam. A Southern
accent. It all adds up to an hilarious comedy and a heart-warming story.